One of the staple pulses in Indian cuisine, the pigeon pea is much more than just a tasty ingredient in daal. It doubles as a natural fertilizer and can take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil. In this episode, we’ll talk with Aeles, an indigenous chef in Taiwan, about the ways her tribe cooks the pea; Vikram Doctor, a food journalist in India on how it’s used in Indian cuisine; and Koreen Brennan, a permaculture instructor based in Florida, on why it’s such a great plant to have in tropical gardens. 

In this episode of Climate Cuisine, Clarissa chats with:

• Aeles, an Indigenous chef from the Taromak tribe, a subset of the Rukai people, in Southern Taiwan

• Vikram Doctor, a journalist based in India who writes mostly about food security and sustainability issues for The Economic Times

• Koreen Brennan, a permaculture instructor in Florida who runs an organization called Grow Permaculture

Episode highlights:

How An Indigenous Chef in Taiwan Uses Pigeon Pea

• Clarissa introduces her friend Aeles from the Taromak tribe in Taiwan. Having been their tribe’s last shaman, Aeles’ late mother cured ailments with plants. Growing up, Aeles was taught that humans and plants are on equal footing. “Take care of the plants, and they will take care of you.”

• One such important plant is pigeon pea, which has been a staple in Indigenous Taiwanese cuisine for generations. Clarissa gives listeners a primer on this legume, from where it originally comes from to how it has fertilizing benefits.

• Aeles shares how she and her tribe typically preserve and cook pigeon pea. Although the traditional way of preparing pigeon pea is in a stew, Aeles says that nowadays, people in the tribe also make it into salads.

On Splitting Legumes

• Vikram explains how pigeon pea is commonly prepared in India, particularly why it is so important that they are split. In fact, the term that is used to refer broadly to legumes, “daal,” means “split.”

The Fundamentality of Pigeon Pea to Indian Cuisine

• Vikram gives some reasons why, of all the different types of legumes out there, pigeon pea is so fundamental to Indian cuisine. 

• Some iconic pigeon pea dishes that Vikram describes include toor daal with rice and ghee and South Indian sambar.

• So fundamental is the pigeon pea to Indian cuisine that there is even a festival in South India dedicated to its harvest! Vikram tells Clarissa more about it.

Legumes as Nitrogen Fixers

• Aside from its culinary uses, pigeon pea also has a practical agricultural use as a fixer, or nitrogen fixer. Clarissa explains what this term means and why fixer plants can increase nitrogen content in the soil, thus acting as a natural fertilizer.

• Vikram highlights that although this knowledge is Indigenous knowledge, it was pushed aside in mainstream farming with the advent of chemical fertilizers, which were key to the Green Revolution in the 1960s.

Increasing Substitution of Pigeon Peas with Yellow Peas

• Although pigeon peas are traditional to the Indian diet, they are now being replaced with imported, Canadian-grown yellow split peas. Vikram traces how this phenomenon is tied to the indentured servitude of Indians in the Caribbean during the colonial era.

• Vikram shares how he thinks climate change will affect yellow pea and pigeon pea consumption in India.

Growing Pigeon Peas

• Koreen shares her method for growing pigeon peas in between trees. Because of the plant’s nitrogen-fixing properties, it grows very fast.

• Because the pigeon pea is a perennial with a lifespan of up to 5 years, it also does not have to be replanted constantly.